[ procrastinators ]

I ADMIT, I'm guilty of procrastinating, particularly if it's something I'm not too keen on having to do. I think I'm a few of these rolled into one…

Can you relate to any of them? {click on image to view larger} :)

lisa

[via mashable.com]

[ they call me Sally ]

SO, it seems that Dubai is a great hang-out for these little guys...

How do I know? Well, we've had 5 of them IN OUR HOUSE since we moved into this villa! They're sticky and they're quick and love to hang out on the walls outside. If we're not careful, they'll scurry in undetected whenever we open the door. Oh sure, these little salamanders or geckos or whatever you want to call them might be cute as cartoons...

...but seeing one scoot across the counter or hanging out near the ceiling is not a pleasant thing. While I freak out, my guy has become the "sally" catcher, armed with the dyson vacuum cleaner to chase them with the nozzle to suck them up and then release them outside {they're so fast, it's the only way to catch them}. Luckily he's been home every time one has been spotted.

And to think I used to be afraid of spiders...

lisa

[ shisha ]

ONE THING you will encounter in Dubai are a cornucopia of smells. Strong cigarettes, pungent incense, heavy perfumes and shisha. If you've never heard of shisha before then here's a little introduction.

Shisha is a herbal tobacco which is smoked through a "hookah" water pipe. Shisha cafés are popular here, especially now that temperatures have cooled and more people are spending time outdoors. Most Arabian restaurants also offer shisha on their patios. Shisha consists of tobacco fermented with molasses and fruits and the sweet odour conceals the natural smell of tobacco tar and nicotine. 

 

Smoking the hookah pipe is thought to have originated in India back in the 1500s by a Persian physician who thought that allowing the tobacco smoke to pass through water would purify it, thus lessening the harm of tobacco smoking. It soon became a status symbol for the Indian aristocracy and gentry.

In the Arab world, shisha is part of their culture and traditions. Shisha cafés are a social thing, much like pubs might be to Ireland & the UK and coffee shops to Canadians. Shisha is as popular with women as it is for men and many tourists will also embrace the experience of smoking shisha while they're here.

The perception is that smoking shisha is a healthier alternative to cigarettes with its aromatic smoke produced by fruity flavours like strawberry, cherry, apple and grape and it's attracting young adults who may not usually smoke cigarettes. However, a shisha smoker may inhale as much smoke in one session as a cigarette smoker would with 100 cigarettes. 

So while it may be seen as socially cool, I don't think it's something I'll be embracing anytime soon. And with my highly sensitive nose, it's just another smell I have to learn to tolerate in this highly fragrant part of the world.

lisa

[all pics: google]

[ it's that time of year again ]

IT APPEARS that the end of October seems to be when the weather makes a change in Dubai and suddenly it's bearable to go outside...

It's a long 5-6 months of staying cooped up in air conditioning and just when I'm starting to get a major case of cabin fever, along comes relief! And to think it will only get better from here. Sigh... I definitely love winter in Dubai!

lisa

[ look familiar? ]

OK, I ADMIT, I watch The Real Houswives of New Jersey. I know. Well, imagine my surprise when I saw my ottoman on the set of their reunion episode!

So... should I be tickled by that or embarrassed?

lisa

[ hangover 2 in dubai ]

WE WENT TO our first movie in Dubai and decided on Hangover 2 since we thought the first one was pretty funny. Little did I know how uncomfortable we would feel watching it.

Sitting in a movie theatre surrounded by local Emirati watching this movie, in a country where you don't swear and you keep your shoulders, knees and cleavage covered, was a very awkward experience. Any exposed body parts were blacked out throughout the movie, and yet the language was so sexually explicit, it left us squirming in our seats. We both actually felt embarrassed! I'm not a prude and I've been known to drop the F bomb but the crude language was so over-the-top that I felt like an adolescent watching this with my mother, in a household where "fart" is a swear word.

I'm sure the first Hangover contained some of the same (though I don't remember it being as bad), but perhaps it was the fact that I was watching it here that made it seem so OTT. I would love to know what the locals thought of it, although I did notice that they weren't outwardly laughing their way through it. Have you seen Hangover 2?

lisa

[ battle of the bulge ]

I'VE BEEN A bit MIA lately all due to a problem I've been having with my laptop. I've got a MacBook Pro and love it and up until now haven't had problems at all - no viruses or software issues - nothing. It's a real workhorse and I can't imagine life without it (sad, I know).

Last week it all started with a slight tingling feeling all across my keyboard and trackpad. Kind of like it was slightly charged in some way. Then gradually my trackpad stopped working and I could no longer control my cursor on the screen - it started behaving erratically and I could no longer click on anything at all. Then a few days later I noticed that my laptop was rocking a bit on the table - I thought maybe it was sitting on something making it unbalanced. Until I flipped it over.

The battery was bulging in its slot, causing the uneven surface underneath. Hmmm.... strange. So I removed the battery and upon closer examination, it was exploding inside! The metal cover could no longer contain what's inside. It was expanding like The Incredible Hulk!

Have you ever seen such a thing?! I have no idea what has made it explode like that. With the battery removed, I plugged the laptop in and the tingling was gone and my trackpad was back! I guess the pressure of the battery expanding underneath had been pushing on the trackpad, causing it to stop behaving properly.

And so now I have to try to source out a new battery somewhere here in Dubai. Although I have the Apple Care warranty, it does say that it doesn't cover batteries so I may be out of luck there. And being across the world doesn't help. But at least I can still use my laptop as long as it stays plugged in. Whew! The panic of thinking I may lose everything was putting me in a frenzy!
I'm back baby!!

lisa

[ random observations ]

SO WE'VE been in Dubai for a couple of weeks now and I thought I'd just post some random things I've encountered while here so far.

1. Deliveries Everyone, I mean EVERYONE delivers here and there are motorbike delivery guys everywhere. I also came across this cute delivery bike outside our building for very local deliveries from this cafe.

2. Greetings When local Emirati men greet each other, if they are very close friends or relatives, they often touch noses while they shake hands.

3. Taxis The taxis are all beige but have different coloured roofs. When you look down from our apartment tower window, they look like fun toy cars.

4. Milk Fresh milk only lasts a maximum of 3 days in the fridge so don't be buying a gallon if you can't use it up in 3 days!

5. Incense Various shops in the malls sell incense and often will have an incense burner in the middle of the corridor. Me, not a huge fan - I find it migraine-inducing and strong enough to make your eyes water, therefore, unfortunately I don't visit any of the other shops in that general area either.

6. Bus stops The bus stops are pretty swanky and are air-conditioned!

7. Signage I thought these signs to the loos were the cutest!

8. Sprayers And speaking of loos, the toilet stalls all have hand sprayers in them (including in our apartment). Apparently locals are very fussy about their... ahem....cleanliness and rinse after using the facilities. I have also found out that it is customary for Muslims to wash their feet before they pray so many use these same sprayers for just that. Luckily most washrooms have an attendant and hopefully they are quick to mop up after each stall is vacated so you don't have to slosh through a puddle or soak your pant hems.

9. Foggy! Much like the way my glasses fog up going inside from the cold winter temperatures in Canada, my glasses fog up whenever I step outside in Dubai.

There you have it - a few interesting observations while getting settled into this foreign part of the world. I'm sure this is only the start of many more to come!

lisa

[ arrggh! this place! ]

EVERY expat in Dubai knows that this place is an exercise in patience. Sure the sunshine is great, but it definitely comes at a price! I'm constantly encountering things that just don't make sense and are guaranteed to hike your blood pressure up a few notches. My latest encounter was this...

This is where we live ~ villa 57 on street 2 of our gated community...

Over the course of this year, the developer has filled in an open area just up the street from us with a few new villas. The boards have just come down to reveal this...

Seriously! How can you have two villas on the same street with the same number?? They had assigned this chunk of new villas numbers 53-63, right between existing numbers 12 and 13! Why 53-63? Seems pretty random since the existing numbering already goes to about 100 at the bottom of our street! How does this even happen?

I hadn't noticed until I called for a taxi on Thursday. I was standing outside my villa waiting for what seemed to be much longer than usual when my phone rang.

Taxi: I am here ma'am

Me: Where?

Taxi: In front of villa

Me: No... I'm standing right in front of my villa and you are not here.

Taxi: Villa 57?

Me: Yes, villa 57. Are you on Street 2?

Taxi: Yes ma'am

Me: Are you sure?

Taxi: Yes ma'am. Street 2. Villa 57.

Me: Well I'm confused. I'm standing right in front and you are not here. Are you sure you are on Street 2? Did you turn right at the gate or left?

Taxi: I turn right ma'am. Street 2.

Me: Well, you are definitely not in front of my villa. I'm confused. You're SURE you turned right at the gate?

Taxi: Sigh. Yes ma'am. I turn right. I go back and turn left. 'click'

Me: Sigh.

I stood there waiting to see how this was going to play out when I saw him approaching from the bottom of my street instead. He had driven around, past the gate, down Street 1 to where it joins my street and come up. He looked at my villa number with a confused look on his face. I got in.

Taxi: This is villa 57?

Me: Yes. This is where I've been waiting. This is Street 2.

Taxi: Yes ma'am but I was Street 2. I show you.

We drove up the street and he stopped in front of the new villa.

Taxi: Here ma'am. Here I was waiting. Villa 57. Street 2.

I couldn't believe my eyes! I was looking at a villa on my street with the same number as mine! The fact that it was clearly still under construction and obviously not yet occupied hadn't dawned on him. He was waiting at villa 57 so I couldn't very well accuse him of being wrong. He was right ~ sort of. I can't even imagine the problems this is going to create.

Sigh. Only in Dubai.

lisa

[ only in dubai ]

I MUST say that nothing ceases to amaze me in this city of glitz and glam where people think the more over-the-top, the classier. Today while walking through the parking garage at the mall, I saw this...

So what do you think? Would you bedazzle your Range Rover to add some class?

lisa

[ sticker families ]

I'M SURE all of you are familiar with sticker families ~ those little stick people on the back windows of vehicles depicting everyone in the family including pets...

Well, did you know that there are also sticker families for people here in Dubai?

It really is a small world. Do you have a sticker family on your vehicle?

lisa

[ 5 years and thoughts ]

IT'S incredible to think that this little blog-o-mine has been around for 5 years! It's always during these blogiversaries that I realize how quickly time goes by.

When I started this blog, I was taking my first official step away from my magazine art directing career for good. I was living as an expat in Ireland and I had decided to give up the freelance work I was doing and focus on my newly discovered handbag designing business full-time. No one could have predicted where time would lead me ~ moving to Dubai was certainly never on my radar ~ or that I would have to shelf my handbag business while there due to logistical problems.

Now that my expat days are over, I have to admit moving back to Canada has definitely been an adjustment. I had heard many times that the longer you live away as an expat, the more difficult it is to readjust to life in your home country. I didn't really believe it at the time, but after 7.5 years away and now after almost 8 months being back, I understand what people were talking about. I think it's been less of an issue for my guy ~ he's been so busy with work all along ~ but still, old familiar things have felt foreign and it's been weird discovering the changes that have happened while we've been away ~ new plastic-feeling currency, no more pennies, tv shows and movies we had never heard of, cities exploding in size with new neighbourhoods, new stores, a new stat holiday in February...etc.  My brain forgets to readjust all the lingo from overseas to local lingo like pants, pop, gas, cab, cell, loonie, etc. And I've had to remind myself that this is not just another visit and I don't need to stock up on items I can't find overseas to load up my suitcases, our house is really ours and not just another rental and it's ok for me to change whatever I want.

But the biggest adjustment? I can pursue whatever I want now. I think this has had me the most stumped of all. Do I revive my handbag business or start something new? Do I go back to my old career or savour not working in an office? Do I take a course? Do I start a new hobby? What about my blog? Being an expat gave me plenty to blog about while I explored new places, new cultures, new hobbies. Now that I'm back, finding topics to blog about have felt dull and uninspired ~ hence the sporadic posts ~ and I've felt a bit like I've been floating about, unsure as to where I'm headed. I'm sure I'll eventually figure it out. I know that everyone goes through blips like this so it's nothing new. But for now, thanks for so patiently sticking around and for still popping in to see what's new. I'll try to say 'hello' a little more often! xo

lisa

[via houseofturquoise]

[ resolutions and such ]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I don't know about you, but I've pretty much done away with New Year's resolutions ~ as good as my intentions are, inevitably certain goals eventually go off the rails for one reason or another.

So instead of beating myself up about what I have or haven't stuck to, I've decided to simply adopt a few things that are much easier to adhere to: living in the moment, appreciating what's around me, being happier.

But most of all, this...

... and for me that means less time on the computer and more time creating! My projects list just seems to grow and grow {partially due to Pinterest} but I need to devote more time to being creative and completing projects and less time finding new ones! 

What about you? How do you feel about resolutions?

lisa

[via feedly.com; pinterest]